Ranking the job first-year Power Five coaches did with debut class

There are plenty of new Power Five coaches who just experienced their first National Signing Day. Here is a list of how each school finished, both good and bad, laid out by Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney accompanied with a comment from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell.

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY 2017: Farrell Awards | Winners and losers | Alabama is No. 1

Final rank: No. 8

Top commit: Five-star safety JaCoby Stevens from Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Oakland

Overview: Orgeron is known as a phenomenal recruiter and while he did not get every top target – including five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson – LSU got its share of highly talented prospects with Stevens leading the way. LSU flipped five-star linebacker Jacob Phillips from Oklahoma and defensive tackle Tyler Shelvin is the third five-star. The Tigers have to be pleased with a top 10 finish, but big, bad Alabama had another No. 1 finish. The Crimson Tide is going nowhere.

Farrell’s take: “There are misses, but there are too many gets to say anything negative. K'Lavon Chaisson was a big surprise. If there is one criticism, it’s that they lost so many kids in Louisiana if you also include Dylan Moses to Alabama. If you’re going to beat Alabama and win the SEC West, you can’t lose that many kids in-state. Good class, but that’s a big, glaring area that needs improvement.”

Final rank: No. 18

Top commit: Four-star ATH Deommodore Lenoir from Los Angeles Salesian

Overview: Oregon jumped up to second in the Pac-12 rankings with a strong finish on National Signing Day that included Lenoir, who picked the Ducks over Nebraska and Mississippi State, along with three other pledges. Taggart and his staff really did their best work in the days leading up to Wednesday when four-star Bruce Judson committed and four-star quarterback Braxton Burmeister flipped from Arizona.

Farrell’s take: “Better than I thought. They stalled a little bit and they had the off-the-field issues, so Taggart overcame a lot of stuff. His tenure started off with a bunch of distractions, so to finish second in the Pac-12 and to put together a class like that with some key contributors is impressive.”

Final rank: No. 31

Top commit: Four-star LB Gary Johnson from Dodge City (Kan.) Dodge City C.C.

Overview: The Longhorns finished second in the Big 12, but it was a rather muted finish for Herman, who failed to land any of the top 16 prospects in the state of Texas. Johnson is the best prospect in the class followed by four-star quarterback Sam Ehlinger, the top-rated in-state prospect that signed with the Longhorns. Flipping Toneil Carter from Georgia was also an important step.

Farrell’s take: “Rough first year. He didn’t get the buzz a lot of people expected with the hire. He missed on Chaisson and Stephan Zabie. It was a really rough transition year for him.”

Final rank: No. 34

Top commit: Four-star cornerback Harrison Hand from Cherry Hill (N.J.) Cherry Hill West

Overview: Rhule stepped into a nearly impossible situation and returned the Bears’ recruiting class from the precipice. To his credit, at one point Baylor had one commit. The Bears eventually finished third in the Big 12 rankings with four-stars Hand and offensive lineman Xavier Newman. Since Dec. 28, Baylor miraculously landed 26 of its pledges as Rhule looks to rebuild a program dealing with scandal.

Farrell’s take: “I know people don’t want to hear this and don’t want to root for Baylor at all because of all the disgusting things that allegedly occurred, but this was arguably the best job in recruiting in the 2017 cycle. To inherit a class with one commitment and to start over as the pariah of college football and to get this many prospects, a lot of them quality additions, is an amazing job.”

Final rank: No. 59

Top commit: Three-star offensive tackle Blaise Andries from Marshall, Minn.

Overview: Fleck has the Minnesota faithful fired up, but the Golden Gophers are one of only four Big Ten teams along with Northwestern, Indiana and Purdue to not sign a four-star prospect. That is not exactly terrific company, but Minnesota did land Andries, the top player in the state, along with high-level three-star recruits defensive back Adam Beck out of Texas and running back Mohamed Ibrahim from Maryland.

Farrell’s take: “He brought a lot of guys over from Western Michigan, so his grade is incomplete. This was a quick transition and a lot of it was guys he recruited and they followed him. We’ll see next year how he does when he starts fresh with a new group. It’s an incomplete grade for him.”

Final rank: No. 65

Top commit: Three-star defensive tackle Juan Harris from Janesville (Wisc.) Parker

Overview: As stated above, the Hoosiers were only one of four teams in the Big Ten not to land any four-star prospects and in a highly competitive conference that needs to be rectified. Harris is the highest-rated prospect and landing three-star running back Morgan Ellison right before Signing Day was definitely important.

Farrell’s take: “He’s got big shoes to fill. Not that Indiana was a world-beater, but they recruited well, they kept some kids in-state under Kevin Wilson and they were competitive with some teams in the Big Ten. Recruiting was a part of that. He’s stepping into the biggest shoes at Indiana when it comes to recruiting in a long time, so we’ll judge him on 2018.”

Final rank: No. 68

Top commit: Three-star cornerback T.J. Jallow from Scooba (Miss.) East Mississippi C.C.

Overview: The Boilermakers finished last in the Big Ten standings and had the lowest average star rating as well. Jallow along with three-star quarterback Nicholas Sipe and three-star defensive back Dedrick Mackey round out the top prospects in Purdue’s class. It was a quiet finish as Purdue’s final seven commits were ranked as two-stars.

Farrell’s take: “He’s going to have to run that offense and make it fun and make a lot of those skill kids want to go there and put up big numbers. The Big Ten is different. You also have to be solid defensively. He has a big, big challenge ahead of him just like Allen at Indiana. He’s walking into a situation where he has a better chance to improve, but not my much.”

Final rank: No. 75

Top commit: Four-star quarterback Chase Garbers from Newport Beach (Calif.) Corona Del Mar

Overview: The Golden Bears were preparing for a small class, which influences their final team ranking, but Cal had 14 signees and finished last in the conference while Stanford had 14 signees and ended up third in the Pac-12. Garbers and four-star athlete Elijah Hicks lead the way, but Wilcox has his work cut out for him in a conference that’s getting much better.

Farrell’s take: “He inherited an odd situation because it was really late in the game to start. You cannot judge him at all on this. With Stanford recruiting so well, with UCLA and USC always getting kids, Washington is a power now and Oregon is recruiting well, he’s up against it. That’s going to be a super challenge.”